Seven long years passed since the game-changer that was Ordo Ad Chao got released. It was an extremely complex album with a sound so different from what Mayhem (or any other band for that matter) had done before, that a somewhat mixed reaction was to be expected. I gladly put my tent on the fan camp though. This is why Blasphemer's departure worried me as it turned more difficult to guess how the final product would sound like…

Well the debut and this are vastly different in a stylistic sense. I'm curious what your opinion on Ordo Ad Chao is, as that album is much closer in style, and should probably be the standard we are comparing Esoteric Warfare to

True. I can't deny that I prefer the more simplistic style of the debut to this album and Ordo Ad Chao. Indeed these two albums are pretty similar in style. I like this one more than OAC so far, but both deserve more spins. Don't get me wrong, I like 'em both, but somehow the debut just totally pisses on these two albums, even though they are more original style-wise. Though I know myself all too well to know that my opinion in case of music can change a lot after subsequent spins, so who knows... For the record, I've spun this one 5 times so far and OAC only 2 times (and the debut probably 15-20 times already).

For me a slight improvement over the last album, which was pretty decent too. This album continues the new trademark Mayhem sound and seems to dabble with experimentation, making songs like the excellent "Milab" and "Posthuman" that bit more effective. It does get tiresome on soms songs with repetitive riffing but the instrumental performance here more than makes up for it, as well as the eerie atmosphere.

I really like seeing how all of the songs the released prior to the official release date work together in the completed album as well as the progression of the album as a whole. Gives me a new appreciation for the songs I had already heard.

Throne of time is like a nod to Virus (and in a friggin good way), I mean the Carheart album, and for me it is that good! Not sayin' that the OaC sounded not groundbreaking enough) Just that it makes me think of it

Don't know why are people organisming over this. For the most part, this is just standard black metal that just breezes by without anything sticking. When the album slows down, it gets really good (Milab and Posthuman) as it starts to show some measures of uniqueness and Attila is amazing as always but other than that, its kinda meh.

Well, I am certainly enjoying the shit out of this right now. OAC took years before I started appreciating it, this is clicking with me right away. I can't really tell if it's a change of taste for me personally over the past 7 years, or this album is that much better...